Lanegan began his musical career in 1984 with Screaming Trees, with whom he released seven studio albums and five EPs before their disbandment in 2000. During his time with the band, he also started a solo career and released his first solo studio album, The Winding Sheet, in 1990. He subsequently released a further 10 solo albums, which received critical recognition but only moderate commercial success. Following the end of Screaming Trees, he became a frequent collaborator of Queens of the Stone Age, and was a full-time member between 2001 and 2005 during the Songs for the Deaf and Lullabies to Paralyze eras.
Lanegan collaborated with various artists throughout his career. In the 1990s, he and Kurt Cobain recorded an album of Lead Belly covers that was ultimately never released. He also joined Layne Staley and Mike McCready in the band Mad Season, and formed the alternative rock group The Gutter Twins with Greg Dulli in 2003, as well as contributing to releases by Moby, Bomb the Bass, Soulsavers, Tinariwen, The Twilight Singers, Manic Street Preachers, and Unkle, among others.
Lanegan struggled with addiction to drugs and alcohol throughout his life, but had been sober for over a decade at the time of his death. Encouraged by his friend Anthony Bourdain, he released the memoir Sing Backwards and Weep in 2020. He followed this up in 2021 with the memoir Devil in a Coma, which focused on his near-death experience with COVID-19. He and his wife Shelley Brien left the U.S. in 2020 and settled in the Irish town of Killarney, where he died two years later at the age of 57. No cause of death was revealed.
Studio albums
The Winding Sheet (1990)
Whiskey for the Holy Ghost (1994)
Scraps at Midnight (1998)
I'll Take Care of You (1999)
Field Songs (2001)
Bubblegum (2004)
Blues Funeral (2012)
Imitations (2013)
Phantom Radio (2014)
Gargoyle (2017)
Somebody's Knocking (2019)
Straight Songs of Sorrow (2020)
No Bells on Sunday
Mark Lanegan Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When drowning late at night
The blown glass setting sun
Weeps electric light
A mirror holds no gaze
Just a beacon dying
All I know, in a way
I think it’s me that’s crying
No bells on Sunday
No wings to fly
To the ground God bless you
I’m missing you tonight
It’s always the same
Standing out in the rain
It comes down to break me
I’m praying just the same
The lyrics of Mark Lanegan's song "No Bells on Sunday" contain a sense of loss and drowning. In the beginning of the verse, "Now the vanishing's begun," suggests a separation or disappearance that has just started. The next line, "When drowning late at night," suggests the sorrow or pain that comes with a separation or loss. The line, "The blown glass setting sun weeps electric light" brings a sense of depth to the loss in a melancholy way. The metaphor of the blown glass setting sun weeping electric tears explains the pain the singer is experiencing, much like the sensation of drowning late at night. The next line, "A mirror holds no gaze just a beacon dying," describes the sense of hopelessness that comes with this loss. Finally, the chorus is a lament, a melancholic expression of grief. The line "No bells on Sunday, no wings to fly" expresses a sense of helplessness and the inability to move on from the loss.
Line by Line Meaning
Now the vanishing’s begun
The disappearance has started.
When drowning late at night
When feeling overwhelmed.
The blown glass setting sun
The setting sun shining through transparent glass.
Weeps electric light
Radiates a bright, electric hue.
A mirror holds no gaze
A reflection in the mirror is empty.
Just a beacon dying
Something bright fading away.
All I know, in a way
In a sense, everything I know.
I think it’s me that’s crying
It feels like I'm the one crying.
No bells on Sunday
There are no celebrations today.
No wings to fly
I have no means of escape.
To the ground God bless you
Wishing someone farewell as they leave.
I’m missing you tonight
I am longing for someone tonight.
It’s always the same
This is a recurring pattern.
Standing out in the rain
Exposed to the harshness of life.
It comes down to break me
I feel like I'm being crushed under the weight of my problems.
I’m praying just the same
I'm still hopeful despite everything.
Contributed by Liam T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Anita grey
Now the vanishing’s begun
When drowning late at night
The blown glass setting sun
Weeps electric light
A mirror holds no gaze
Just a beacon dying
All I know, in a way
I think it’s me that’s crying
No bells on Sunday
No wings to fly
To the ground God bless you
I’m missing you tonight
It’s always the same
Standing out in the rain
It comes down to break me
I’m praying just the same
Vojtech Horacek
Thank you Mark for the haunting beauty of your voice. Your music helped me along some bleak parts of my life. May you have peace, wherever you are now.
reed gomoll
Beautifully said.
Anita grey
Now the vanishing’s begun
When drowning late at night
The blown glass setting sun
Weeps electric light
A mirror holds no gaze
Just a beacon dying
All I know, in a way
I think it’s me that’s crying
No bells on Sunday
No wings to fly
To the ground God bless you
I’m missing you tonight
It’s always the same
Standing out in the rain
It comes down to break me
I’m praying just the same
Kris Machado
Anita grey thanks a lot
Rosa Rio
Thanks. This is so wonderfull, deep and existential. Love, Mark Lanegan. You're free...
Catherine SAYOUS
💔💔💔💔💔
Richard Koning
Thanks! 😊❤
Kelley Antolik
One of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard ❤ 0:34
Aidan Convery
The allknowing, perfection of whatever God is, understood this man and has given him final peace.
Kent Borges
WOW, WITH ALL THE MUSIC I HAVE, I MISSED THIS AMAZING MAN...WILL CATCH UP !